Far-right leader could be barred from standing for presidency if she is convicted over alleged fake jobs scam

The future of the far-right leader Marine Le Pen – and France’s political landscape – will be decided on Monday when a court hands down its verdict on charges she and party officials embezzled money from the European parliament.

If convicted, the three-time presidential candidate of the National Rally (RN) could be barred from standing to succeed Emmanuel Macron in the 2027 presidential election.

Public prosecutors have demanded Le Pen be given a €300,000 (£250,000) fine, a prison sentence and that she be prevented from holding or seeking to hold a political position or five years.

  • TastyWheat@lemmy.worldEnglish
    22·
    2 days ago

    From an Aussie who’s only just hearing about this now (how the hell did I miss this?), what kind of chances are there of a conviction here? How’s the evidence?

    If she gets convicted but remains eligible, that’s a biiiig problem…

    • BestBouclettes@jlai.luEnglish
      6·
      2 days ago

      The evidence is pretty overwhelming, they recovered fake planners, with all the receipts, texts, emails, and records where they openly admitted the fraud.

      Now when it comes to conviction, it might go sideways because she’s the head and the face of RN which is one of the biggest opposition party and has been for the last 20 or so years.

      Hopefully, she’s not above the law, and this case will set a precedent for decades to come, whichever side it goes.